The Pentagon assures that the US is not seeking 'regime change' in Iran

(AFP) The United States has "devastated" Iran's nuclear program but is not seeking regime change, the Pentagon said Sunday, the 10th day of the Iran-Israel war.

After days of suspense, Donald Trump announced Saturday that "Iran's key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated" in U.S. military strikes on three plants: Fordow, hidden under a mountain, Natanz and Isfahan.

"We devastated the Iranian nuclear program," Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also told a news conference.

Hegseth assured that Trump "seeks peace, and Iran should take that path."

The U.S. stressed that its goal is not to provoke regime change in Iran.

"We're not at war with Iran. We're at war with Iran's nuclear program," Vice President J.D. Vance told ABC. Washington has "substantially delayed [Iran’s] development of a nuclear weapon," he added, perhaps by "many, many years."

The U.S. bombing of Iran's nuclear facilities made the world "safer," said Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

"I think the world today is safer and more stable than it was 24 hours ago," Rubio told Fox News. He added that Iran exposes itself to retaliation if it maintains a "secret" nuclear program.

Rubio accused Iran of engaging in "fake negotiations" before the attacks in order to "play" with U.S. President Donald Trump.